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Some 2011 MacBook Pros Experiencing GPU Glitches, System Crashes

Gnutek said:
Whoa! o_O My Early 2011 MBP 17" had this three months ago! After graphical glitches computer stopped booting... I paid $1k to get the logic board replaced, and the computer crashed two weeks later... Then it was replaced again (at no additional cost) and it crashed again... Then it went for a third replacement, but they only reseted PRAM and sent it back non-working, so it went back for the fourth time... After the third replacement it seems to be working fine...

Should I be spending more time keeping my finger crossed???
Click to expand...

You shouldn't have spent $1,000 originally to fix a 2 year old laptop.
 
AMD again huh?

Good Lord... Both of my iMacs got ATi/AMD problems.

Good to see that the problems about AMD GPUs don't end! /s

I hope Apple puts a stop to this and you aren't forced to AMD crap anymore when picking a specific model.

The Mac Pro SHOULD be good, because it seems AMD can't get mobile GPUs right, but who knows...

Glassed Silver:mac
 
pkkrusty said:
Mine is one affected. I jumped early when they were announced in 2011.

I have not seen it happen when using integrated graphics, but with any kind of graphics load on the discrete, it's only a matter of time before the screen goes blue. My current "solution" is to put the computer to sleep then wake it back up, which fixes the problem. But I'm sure it'll get worse and worse.
Click to expand...
This is my same issue, except apple has already replaced my motherboard twice! So I'm on my 3rd mobo. The first one would go blue on any moderate use of graphics. The second one got so bad that not only was it going blue but the screen started corrupting and then to the point were I couldn't even boot into OSX as it would just freeze after giving a corrupted screen. On my 3rd mobo and I'm still getting blue screens. The apple geniuses at the store tell me it must be some runaway app and I should only use apple programs like safari. I told them that the screen corruption had nothing to do with runaway apps and I have the problems also when using apple programs.

There's been something like 7 firmware updates for thunderbolt for my early 2011 model and I just wonder if its not partly connected to thunderbolt and the graphics card. I too close the lid putting the MBP to sleep and on waking it seems to fix the issue. Anyways I'm still under apple care so I plan to bring the laptop to apple store in the next week or so. I have to say I'm pretty fed-up with all the traveling to the Apple store.
 
MacBook Pro Discrete Issue

I had an early 2011 17" MBP. The same issue started late April 2013. I did a ton of testing and at first I thought it was a software issue. Anytime it would happen I would run a permissions scan and found a directory tied to the discrete graphics card corrupt. I would repair the directory and it would be ok for a while. So, I installed Cocktail and set it to automatically repair permissions daily.

However, the issue was never fully resolved. The next work around (used until I sold it) was installing gfxCardStatus. Then setting it to integrated at all times. Doing this made it possible for me until I rebooted. Then I would spend 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours trying to reboot. I just had to continue to reboot until it booted on the integrated card.

So, I only rebooted when it was absolutely necessary which was every 30 days or so.

The integrated work around made it manageable but the biggest issue was I couldn't use an external monitor since it requires the discrete card.


It may be a coincidence but this issue seemed to occur more frequently with Lion and Mountain Lion and less frequently with Snow Leopard.

I ended up selling the 17" MBP for what I could get for it and purchased a lightly used 15" MBPr and immediately purchased AppleCare.

I learned a valuable lesson with this laptop, buying AppleCare is a must not optional. And I probably won't keep a Mac after the AppleCare has runout.

I have been a very happy Mac user since 2010 but this is very frustrating.

Best of luck to you all with this issue.
 
It sounds quite similar to what happened with the iMacs and MacBook Pros from 2006. The graphics would fail after a few years, and the graphics anomalies would gradually get worse until the machine is completely unusable. They had the ATi X1600 graphics or NVIDIA 7300GT GPUs. I know that before they completely failed, the graphic anomalies could be slowed down or stopped temporarily by turning up the fan speeds, which probably means it was heat aggravated, sort of like what happened with the 2011 MacBooks and some 2011 iMacs.

I have only ever heard of these kinds of problems happening on Apple computers, but it must've happened on regular PC computers. I think that the companies involved should do more rigorous testing on their hardware, especially hardware that'll be generating a lot of heat, such as processors with lots of cores and high clock speeds and high performance GPUs.
 
Seems this is what my friend faced a few months ago.
And my friend get a free replacement for the logic board.
Apple staff said this is the problem they knew so he got a free replacement.

Oh and that is MacBook Pro 15".
 
Mine had this issue, but only after I took into Apple twice because of the noise it was making. After I got it back the second time the screen developed a fault. They then replaced the screen and replaced thermal paste on the GPU.

In my opinion the design of the 2011 MBP is flawed as is doesn't allow for adequate cooling. There is a tiny slot at the back that draws air in and pushes it out again - through the same tiny slot. Move to the rMBP and there are intake slots at the side of the case. Air is drawn in and through the system. Result, it is much quieter.

I ended up buying the retina because I couldn't use the 2011 MBP at customer sites due to the noise. Too much style over substance going on here. The rMBP suffers from this too and has other mind-boggling design issues, like the lack of ethernet port. A lot of the environments I work in don't have wireless and it's too easy to knock the thunderbolt adaptor out. I can understand using this approach on the Air, but on a full-blown laptop? It needs an ethernet port.

Overall Apple you get a B-. Must try harder!
 
The problem I have is everyone defending having to pay out of warranty costs. If something is very consistent, it should be fixed for free. Customers are paying over $1,000 for these products and with Apple's reputation for being 'higher end', they should just fix them.

Seriously, they can pin it all on Nvidia and come out he good guy.
 
fblack said:
This is my same issue, except apple has already replaced my motherboard twice! So I'm on my 3rd mobo. The first one would go blue on any moderate use of graphics. The second one got so bad that not only was it going blue but the screen started corrupting and then to the point were I couldn't even boot into OSX as it would just freeze after giving a corrupted screen. On my 3rd mobo and I'm still getting blue screens. The apple geniuses at the store tell me it must be some runaway app and I should only use apple programs like safari. I told them that the screen corruption had nothing to do with runaway apps and I have the problems also when using apple programs.

There's been something like 7 firmware updates for thunderbolt for my early 2011 model and I just wonder if its not partly connected to thunderbolt and the graphics card. I too close the lid putting the MBP to sleep and on waking it seems to fix the issue. Anyways I'm still under apple care so I plan to bring the laptop to apple store in the next week or so. I have to say I'm pretty fed-up with all the traveling to the Apple store.
Click to expand...

If you're polite and play your cards right you should get a free replacement after the third repair. Try calling and calmly requesting for a customer relations specialist. I went through this with an 8600 Nvidia, after the problem persisted on the third repair we got a brand new unibody.

I had this same problem described in this article for my 2011 15" MBP too. Logic board replaced under Applecare warranty then I sold it as my work sprung for a rMBP. Apple better bone up and replace these AMD chips out of warranty.
 
Got mine "fixed" with a new logic board, but the issue persists

Funny... I was sitting at the Genius bar for this issue when I saw this article pop up in my RSS feed.

I have a 15" early 2011 MacBook Pro core i7 2.0ghz, and every time I boot up, I see a graphics glitch flash on the screen for a split second right before the login window pops up. I see other glitches randomly as well, but luckily, since it happens every time I boot up, it's easy to reproduce.

I took it to the Genius bar on Monday and they sent it in to Apple. Apple replaced the logic board, both sticks of RAM, the CD/DVD drive, and the CD/DVD drive cable. I went to pick it up on Thursday. When I got home, I booted it up, and the problem wasn't even fixed! Same exact glitch before the login screen popped up.

So earlier today, I took it back to the Genius bar and they labeled the computer as a "looper", which means it's an issue that cropped up again right after repair.

I'm commenting to confirm that even after a logic board replacement, the issue persists. Hopefully, this time it will be completely fixed. I should get my MacBook Pro back on Monday or Tuesday. I will be sure to add an update to this thread with the results.
 
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Aleco said:
You shouldn't have spent $1,000 originally to fix a 2 year old laptop.
Click to expand...

It was still cheaper than getting a new Mac. And with matte display and an SSD (the original MBP drive died a few month earlier) I really like my Mac.
 
Other than a dead power supply in a TimeCapsule, which was promptly replaced under AppleCare, I've been fairly lucky with my Apple purchases so far, but I seem to notice a trend with more component failures the last few years. Wonder if this is a function of miniaturization, or just sloppier Q.C. on the part of suppliers.
 
kelon111 said:
Regular consumers aren't supposed to change parts. Changing RAM modules , HDDs , batteries , etc. are all too hard for standard consumers.
Click to expand...

My 55 year old uncle (who still double clicks on dock icons, puts memory sticks in the SD card slot and tries to open .exe on OS X) managed to easily change the RAM in our iMac. I don't think just because a few can't do it Apple should stop it for everyone.
 
I had this exact same issue just fixed last week, early 2011 model macbook pro screen kept glitching then I couldn't go past the apple screen when restarting. Had my logic board replaced but then it did it again when I watched netflix, had it replaced a second time and it's working again.
 
I use my 15" late 2011 6770m every day. This error never occurred on my machine.
I think it could be that i changed the thermal compound on the cpu and gpu when the computer was about a year old. By then the original thermal compound was all dry and with risk of cpu and gpu overheating. So by now i feel great to have done it. :)

So you guys with working 2011´s should consider doing this.

And dont go for the cheapest thermal compound out there. I used the Arctic Silver and computer still runs cool and deadsilent at low intense work.
Also download Gfxcardstatus app, to force integrated gpu or just get a notification when the machine switches to dedicated gpu.
 
I feel like I am part of the minority here but I have owned my 2010 17" MacBook Pro since day one of its release and have not had any issues with the graphics card. I've been using an external monitor with it for most of its life meaning the NVIDIA 330M is always in use. With it being almost 4 years old, at this point even if it did crap out and die I would still feel like I got my moneys worth out of it. But I expect it to last at least another 4 years... :D
 
I have the early 2011 15" MBP.

No issues so far. Had it since May 2011, With pretty graphics intensive stuff, too.

Was looking to get a SSD for it in the coming months, and some more ram.

Not sure how to play that now...
 
ifixit.com did a teardown of this mac as usual and found that the CPU and GPU had a ridiculous amount of heatsink paste applied to them that can reduce the effectiveness in which the heat is transferred. They even said "Holy thermal paste! Time will tell if the gobs of thermal paste applied to the CPU and GPU will cause overheating issues down the road." when they tore it apart. I wonder if this is part of the cause for some of users.
 
Same problem for me as my computer died stuck on this graphics glitch in May 2013. Luckily my MBP was under AppleCare and Apple replaced the Logic Board. I figured heat was a problem so I removed the internal DVD drive and put in an SSD. I use the original internal hard drive only as a backup drive so it rarely turns on. I also now use a little freeware program called smcFancontrol that makes sure the fans are running all the time at a minimum 2700 rpm. If the fans die from overuse, its a cheap replacement so I’m not worried. Lastly, I also now use a laptop stand with a fan underneath to help cool.

MBP’s have poor heat dissipation since the only outlet is the thin long strip in the rear hinge area.

I am as big an Apple fan as there is, owning multiple iPods, and an iphone also. I’ve owned Apple since the Apple IIgs. However, for the premium I pay in Apple products I expect a flawless experience. This is the third Apple computer that I’ve had problems with starting with the iMac in 2004 and MBP in 2010. People should not have to pay $1000 to fix a problem when it is not unique to their computer, but is a systemic flaw that Apple knows about and just hopes will go away quietly. Sometimes there is a benefit to class action lawsuits in that they force a company to acknowledge the error of its ways, and maybe that’s what it will take in this case to shake Apple up. Just think, if I hadn’t bought AppleCare, paying a $250 premium on top of the premium price I paid for the MBP, I would have had to pay $1000 to fix a 2 year old laptop. I always say PC is junk, but maybe in the future buying a junk PC and just tossing it when it goes bad is the way to go….well that’ll probably never happen since I love OSX too much. Damn it Apple, treat your loyal customers right and acknowlege the problem and do a recall!
 
I have a late 2011 mbp with 6750m and I had to send it in last month for repair because of this and it worked for a few hours after logic board replacement but then I had to send it back in I am picking it up today after another logic board replacement probably btw best buy is where I bough it and have a warrenty with they are repairing it.
 
mabaker said:
Exactly. People don't realize that this issue is not new. Apple notebooks are not known for good heat management.
Click to expand...

Pretty much.

As far as I can tell, this set mobile GPU series is not having issues in most PC laptops.

I very well may buy a rMBP this year, as my last Apple Laptop was a brand new G4, which had little to no heat issues. However the Intel ones seem to have heat issues, as does my 2011 iMac ( junk ).

I think it might have something to do with the obsession of thinness and quietness. The vast majority of PC laptops I see, including my own. Have pretty big vents on the side, under the monitor, and a separate intake. And sometimes are a tiny bit louder, but they also seem to run much cooler.

----------
Aleco said:
You shouldn't have spent $1,000 originally to fix a 2 year old laptop.
Click to expand...

A 2 year old laptop shouldn't fail that quickly at that price point.


I seriously question the durability of Apples laptops these days. I have a Toilet Seat iBook G3, a Pismo and a Powerbook G4. None of them have ever had an issue besides a failed hard drive on the Pismo about a week after I bought it brand new ( thank god it was before class that year ), none of them run hot. And the build quality seems better than the newer stuff. Two of these laptops are over 10 years old, and still run pretty much like new.
 
G51989 said:
I very well may buy a rMBP this year, as my last Apple Laptop was a brand new G4, which had little to no heat issues. However the Intel ones seem to have heat issues, as does my 2011 iMac ( junk ).

I think it might have something to do with the obsession of thinness and quietness. The vast majority of PC laptops I see, including my own. Have pretty big vents on the side, under the monitor, and a separate intake. And sometimes are a tiny bit louder, but they also seem to run much cooler.
Click to expand...


I think the obsession with thinness is a big part of it. However we are seeing that now throughout the entire industry so I wouldn't be surprised to see these kinds of issues crop up with other companies. Many are making notebooks even thinner and lighter than Apple right now.
 
2008 MBP , replaced motherboard (reasonable fee) last year and waiting what is next.

Bought as a used machine on ebay and has been really good up to that time.

I don't expect 5/6 year old MBPs to last forever.

I do agree that APPLE should be more forgiving when an issue multiplies and is well known and documented.

Maybe if the product initially had Apple Care (so they got paid for any issues), just tell employees to extend the warranty period quietly, since it was never used?
 
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